Far from everyone in Kazakhstan likes Tokayev's modernization reforms, certain forces tried to change things - state secretary

NUR-SULTAN. March 2 (Interfax) - Far from everyone in Kazakhstan likes the initiatives of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev aimed at modernizing the country, and "certain forces" have tried to discredit and reverse the reforms, Kazakh State Secretary Yerlan Karin said.

"Truth be told, a number of political initiatives the president is planning to put forward were considered by him last year. So, the New Kazakhstan concept is not a situational decision. It logically continues the previous reforms of the president. It is also part of the general, long-term course towards comprehensive modernization of the nation," Karin said in an interview with the Informburo.kz web portal published on Wednesday.

All of Tokayev's initiatives aim at modernizing Kazakhstan, Karin said. "Each of them is a result of many hours of work but, most importantly, each of them is supported with real actions. We can see that the country has changed a lot over the past two and a half years," he said.

"Yet it looks like far from everyone likes the changes. Certain forces have tried walk them back. In fact, they have tried to discredit and reverse the reforms," Karin said.

The best course of action is not to curb down political reforms but to move on and demonstrate our firm posture, he said.

"I believe everyone has seen that no conservation of power has happened and democratic reforms have not stopped, instead they have accelerated. The country is undergoing a strong renovation process, and no one can stop it. Neither the government nor the people will allow that to happen. Once again, the course set by the president is unwavering. You can see how adamant he is," Karin said.